Contents

Preface

Acknowledgements

Notes on Transcription/Transliteration and Pronunciation

Abbreviations

Introduction. Islam, ‘Sharia’ and Law

Chapter 1. About This Book

Chapter 2. ‘Sharia’ and Law

Part 1. The History of Islamic Law

Chapter 1. The Origins of the Islamic State and Its Legal System

1. The Beginnings

2. The Schism between Sunnis and Shiʿites

3. The Emergence of Schools of Law and Institutions of the Law

4. Courts and Jurists within the State Structure

5. Presenting the Evidence in Court

6. Further Administrative Institutions

Chapter 2. The Development of the Dogmatics of Islamic Law

1. Introduction

2. The Quran

3. The Sunna of the Prophet

4. The Consensus of the Legal Scholars (ijmāʿ)

5. Conclusion by Analogy and Other Methods of Deduction (qiyās)

6. ‘Considering (Something) to be Better’ (istiḥsān)

7. Considering the Universal Good (istiṣlāḥ, al-maṣāliḥ al-mursala)

8. The Opinions of (Individual) Prophet’s Companions (madhhab al-ṣaḥābī)

9. Customary Law (ʿurf) and Custom (ʿāda)

10. ‘Blocking the Means’ (sadd al-dharāʾīʿ)

11. ‘Continuance’ (istiṣḥāb) and ‘Norms of Those before Us’ (sharʿ man qablanā)

Chapter 3. Judgments and Opinions

Chapter 4. Overview of the Areas Governed by Classical Islamic Law

1. Introduction: Theory and Practice

2. Personal Status, Marriage and Family Law

3. Inheritance Law

4. Contract Law and Commercial Law

5. Company Law

6. Property Law

7. Criminal Law and Law of Tort

8. Constitutional Law and Administrative Law

9. Law Relating to Aliens and International Law

10. Fiscal Law and Charitable Foundations (awqāf)

Part 2. Modern Islamic Law

Chapter 1. Further Development and Upheaval from the Thirteenth/Nineteenth Century Onwards

1. Introduction

2. Surrounding Conditions, Motives of and Paths Taken by Reforms

Chapter 2. Methods for Further Development and Examples of Practical Application

1. Formalising the Law and Application of the Law under Government Parameters

2. Defining and Determining the Content within the Framework of the Administrative Authority (siyāsa)

3. Silence of the Legislative Authority within the Codification and Legal Practitioner’s Silence

4. Reform on the Basis of New or Rediscovered Methods of Finding and Interpreting Sources

5. Further Developments ‘from the Bottom up’ and Opposing Trends

6. ‘Revolutionary’ Changes

Chapter 3. Core Areas of Modern Islamic Law

1. Personal Status Law, Family Law and Inheritance Law

2. Contract Law and Commercial Law

3. Constitutional Law and Administrative Law

4. Penal Law

Part 3. Paths Taken by Islamic Law in the Diaspora

Chapter 1. Introduction

Chapter 2. India: An Example of a Territory Previously under Muslim Rule

1. Introduction

2. The Legal Framework

3. Conclusion

Chapter 3. Canada: An Example of a Typical Immigration Country

1. Introduction

2. The Legal Framework for Applying the Norms of Islamic Law in Canada

Chapter 4. Germany (Also Taking into Account Other European Countries)

1. Introduction

2. Applying Islamic Religious Norms in Germany and Europe

3. Applying the Norms of Islamic Law

4. Muslims’ Basic Attitude towards the Legal System in Force

Part 4. Islamic Law and Its Prospects in a Globalised World

Chapter 1. Between Secularisation and Re-Islamisation

Chapter 2. Conclusion: The Search for New Approaches

Appendix. The Structure of the Kitāb al-mabsūṭ fī l-furūʿ by the Hanafite Jurist al-Sarakhsī (d. 483/1090)

Bibliography

Glossary

Index of Persons and Terms